Anglican communion

Family of Christian churches including the Church of England, the US Episcopal Church, and those holding the same essential doctrines, that is the Lambeth Quadrilateral 1888 Holy Scripture as the basis of all doctrine, the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds, Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, and the historic episcopate.

The Anglican communion includes features of both Protestantism and Catholicism. Some Anglican churches have much in common with the Roman Catholic Church regarding beliefs, practices, and forms of worship.

In England the two archbishops head the provinces of Canterbury and York, which are subdivided into bishoprics. The Church Assembly of 1919 was replaced in 1970 by a General Synod with three houses (bishops, other clergy, and laity) to regulate church matters, subject to Parliament. A decennial Lambeth Conference (so called because the first was held there in 1867), attended by bishops from all parts of the Anglican communion, is presided over by the archbishop of Canterbury; it is not legislative but its decisions are often put into practice. In 1988 it passed a resolution paving the way for the consecration of women bishops (the first was elected in the USA in September 1988).